He nodded. “Well. I guess I’ve been fighting the old guard for long enough. Maybe they’d want me to show them the money.”
Clearly warming to the idea. “So that’s how it stands and what I will do. I can’t guarantee any support, but we can try.”
He nodded again. And then he said, “Thank you. For everything.” He rose quite suddenly. “I better . . . not take too much of your time. You must be tired.”
I was tired, but it would be some time before I could go to bed. “Go back to the main island, if you want. Look after her.”
“Thank you,” he said again, and then he was gone.
* * *
Why was I so keen to help Federza, Thayu wanted to know at dinner. All of us were sitting around the big table in the living room and everyone fell quiet when she asked that. “It’s like you’re fascinated with him. He’s not in our association.”
“He is not in this association, but I think he is in one of mine, in his own way. He believes in doing the right thing, and we should support people who do the right thing.”
“Does he do the right thing, though? He could have spoken out much earlier, if he broke with his people,” Sheydu said.
“I don’t know about that. There are some pretty powerful people pulling the strings in the Aghyrian compound. Probably he relied on their endorsement for some or part of his support, either financial or in some other way that made him dependent on them.”
If “blunt” was the cliché descriptor for Coldi people, then the one-word description for the Aghyrians would have to be “manipulative”. I could only begin to imagine the web of intrigue and fear that Federza would have been living under.
“Doesn’t that then make him more vulnerable as candidate?”
“It would, if we didn’t know about it and if he hadn’t spoken out about it.”
“Well . . .” Sheydu said, and she looked doubtful. “I guess I don’t have to vote.”
“I think he’ll do a better job than either Akhtari and Namion,” Veyada said.
And, as it often did, Veyada’s opinion settled the matter.
Talk turned to our adventures for the benefit of those who hadn’t been there. Nicha had been to the Aghyrian ship, but Reida hadn’t; and although he had enjoyed himself at the shooting range with Nicha, the experience paled in comparison to his zhayma’s trip to the giant ship.
“It’s a piece of floating history,” Veyada said. “They like to think that they were so much more superior than we are and that we haven’t yet caught up with them, but I think they’re wrong about that. I mean—that ship didn’t even dampen its wake, broadcasting everything about it to the entire network.”
Sheydu nodded. “That thing is a floating coffin.”
“I’m more worried about the people they left behind on that other planet,” Nicha said. “What have they developed?”
“I don’t think they’ll show up on our doorstep anytime soon,” Thayu said. “Having gotten rid of their arsehole captain, why would they?”
No one answered that question.
I looked around the table at my loyal team, happy that we were all safe and all here. I would not have been able to have done any of this without them.
* * *
The day ended, as so many, in the bath with an activity that was both pleasant and relaxing. Afterwards, we sat on the little underwater bench. I’d gotten out of the water to retrieve two glasses and a bottle of lily bulb liquor from the cupboard against the wall. I’d put the glasses on the edge of the pool and poured while sitting on the underwater bench.
The liquor was sweet and heavy and spread a scent of flowers over the water.
Thayu took her glass from me. She had that expression on her face that said she was ready for serious talk. Since it had proven impossible to talk when she wasn’t in the mood for discussing certain things, I seized the occasion. “So, what are we going to tell Menor?”
“I’ve been thinking,” she said, and sipped from her drink. “He is easy and doesn’t mind one way or another?”
“No, it’s up to us whether or not we use him. Whether or not you want to do this.”
She blew out a breath. “I don’t.”
And she met my eyes.
My heart was hammering. Was this going to be one of those Thanks, but no thanks occasions?
“Don’t look at me like that.”
“Well, I know that you badly want another child, and I can’t give you one so . . .” My vision blurred. I had to look away, breathing deeply to keep all those bad feelings at bay.
“So, what? I don’t know what you mean. I don’t want to use Menor until we have exhausted absolutely all avenues. Talking to Lilona has made me realise that there is a lot more that we don’t know, and a lot of things that can possibly be done that we don’t yet know about. We have time. I don’t need to rush.”
All right. I took a deep calming breath, and then another, and downed the contents of my glass in one gulp.
“Hey.” She put a warm hand on my arm. “You seem really out-of-sorts whenever this subject comes up. I’ve avoided it for that reason. You really don’t want to use Menor either?”
“It’s not about Menor. He’s a fine young man, and I’d have no trouble using him. It’s that I thought that you didn’t want to use him, and that you wanted only a natural child—”
“I do.”
“I thought that since I can’t give you that, you were . . .” My voice choked up.
“I was what?”
“You were going to leave me.” Her beautiful face blurred before my eyes.
Understanding dawned on her face. Then she enveloped me in a strong hug, uttering a little squeak. “Oh. Why didn’t you say so? I would have told you that I’d rather forego my right to have another child than leave you. I would never do that.”
I hugged her back, relishing the warmth of her against me. “I guess I never said anything because I was too afraid.”
“You have nothing to be afraid of.”
We sat like that for a while. From deeper in the apartment came the sound of laughter and a baby’s squeal. Coldi babies were quick developers, and Ayshada was already starting to show his little personality. “There will be another child in this apartment, one way or another. We’ll look into it further. If it’s a genuine possibility I don’t rule out having my genes upgraded while I’m still alive.”
“You make it sound so morbid.”
“It is kind of morbid. Lilona wasn’t even sure it could be done for adults. Anyway, she may know about the technology, but the ship is gone. She doesn’t have the equipment and the labs and staff that she might need.”
“But they will be back.”
I laughed. “In another fifty thousand years’ time?” But I knew they wouldn’t be that long. I didn’t think the Aghyrian ship and crew had the strength for another set of jumps that big. There was no need to go to another galaxy. There were a lot of other worlds full of people they could try to manipulate in this galaxy. Non-gamra worlds, where the agreement between Ezhya and Kando Luczon didn’t necessarily hold. If the Aghyrians didn’t already know about these worlds, they would find out soon. Yes, we would cross paths with them again. Sooner rather than later.
A Word of Thanks
THANK YOU very much for reading Coming Home.
As author of this book, I would appreciate it very much if you could return to the place where you purchased this book and leave a review. Reviews are important to me, because they help readers decide if the book is for them.
If you wish to continue following Cory Wilson’s adventures, the next book in the SF-thriller Ambassador series is Blue Diamond Sky.
Also be sure to put your name on my mailing list, which I use to notify subscribers of news and new fiction. For everything else, please visit my website at pattyjansen.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
* * *
PATTY JANSEN lives in Sydney, Australia, where she spends most of her time writing Science Fi
ction and Fantasy. Her story This Peaceful State of War placed first in the second quarter of the Writers of the Future contest and was published in their 27th anthology. She has also sold fiction to genre magazines such as Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Redstone SF and Aurealis.
Her novels (available at ebook venues) include Shifting Reality (hard SF), The Far Horizon (middle grade SF), Charlotte’s Army (military SF) and The Icefire Trilogy consisting of Fire & Ice, Dust & Rain and Blood & Tears (dark fantasy).
Patty is on Twitter (@pattyjansen), Facebook, LinkedIn, goodreads, LibraryThing, google+ and blogs at: http://pattyjansen.com/.
MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
* * *
In the Earth-Gamra space-opera universe
The Shattered World Within (novella)
RETURN OF THE AGHYRIANS
Watcher’s Web
Trader’s Honour
Soldier’s Duty
Heir’s Revenge
The Return of the Aghyrians Omnibus
The Far Horizon (For younger readers)
AMBASSADOR
Seeing Red
The Sahara Conspiracy
Raising Hell
Changing Fate
Coming Home
Blue Diamond Sky
In the For Queen and Country universe
Whispering Willows (short story)
FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY
Innocence Lost
Willow Witch
The Idiot King
For Queen and Country Omnibus (Books 1-3)
Fire Wizard
The Dragon Prince
In the ISF-Allion universe
His Name in Lights (novella)
Charlotte’s Army (novella)
Luminescence (short story)
The Rebelliousness of Trassi Udang (short story)
Shifting Reality (novel)
Shifting Infinity (novel)
Epic, Post-apocalyptic Fantasy
ICEFIRE TRILOGY
Fire & Ice
Dust & Rain
Blood & Tears
The Icefire Trilogy Omnibus
Short story collection
Out Of Here
Shorter works
Looking For Daddy (absurd horror novella)
This Peaceful State of War (Writers of the Future winning novella)
Visit the author’s website at http://pattyjansen.com and register for a newsletter to keep up-to-date with new releases.
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